twin_maskfandomcom-20200214-history
Salo Margaretson de Angistine
= Known Information Pre-Return (21XXc - August, 10r) The year is 21XXc. The Nadine Empire is locked into another bloody war with the Amalgamation. Leading the head of the charge were the Crown Knights of House Angistine. The highest ranking commander was also the House’s matriarch, Margaret de Angistine, who to the praise of many of her soldiers and comrades took to giving and coordinating the legion’s marching orders while pregnant. She was as respected as she was confident, and this confidence lead her to believe the war would be won before her ninth month of pregnancy. Eight and a half months into the Angistine campaign, Margaret de Angistine found herself on the cusp of victory. The Kingdom of Hastings had nearly suffered enough losses to consider an agreement of surrender. One more battle would guarantee the decisive outcome of the war. But before the soon-to-be Mother of the Conquest could give the final order, she collapsed off her horse and went into a very violent labor. As the healers fled to her aid, the chain of command was in shambles and the Sixth Legion was unsure of how to proceed. This gave the Amalgamation forces an opportune window to strike back and force the mighty legionnaires under Angistine command into their first rout in over five hundred years. A premature birth, Salo Margaretson de Angistine had to be cut out from the belly of Margaret de Angistine on the battlefield, his first act in life was the murder of his mother and of over ten thousand Nadine soldiers. For the House of Angistine, Salo’s birth was one of great shame, as his untimely arrival had cost them a great victory and left a stain on their reputation as the Shrike’s nigh-undefeated warriors In the chaos, newborn Salo was handed off to a draconarius named Kaede Drakontos, a favored lancer of Margaret's who was assigned to ride in her personal escort unit. In a solemn affair, Drakontos and the Sixth Legion Praetorian Guard then carried baby Salo and his mother's corpse. back to Castle Angistine. Salo’s birthright was one of a debt. He owed his family for the loss of Margaret and the loss of the last campaign, and he could only repay that debt whilst bound to the blade, and in service to the Nadine war machine. To the rest of Nadine society, many viewed Salo as the closest a person could be to the Nadine ideal -- for his very first day on Adelrune, his first actions as a mortal, was to murder someone without remorse. The Blood Cauldron’s mystics predicted that by his infantile slaying of the Mother of Conquest would be a precursor to him becoming a Crown Knight of legendary renown. The family’s hatred for him, combined with his countrymen’s worship of him put an incredible amount of pressure on his upbringing. He was trained and drilled twice as hard than his siblings and cousins. He was excessively scrutinized and held to near unreachable standards. He was squired off to an uncle he does not remember the name of, and was put through near endless gauntlets that pushed his mental and physical grit beyond their limits. As the hellish days of his youth went by, Salo could only hope that upon his promotion to fully fledged Crown Knight that life would be easier. It wasn’t. He was the Son of the Mother of Conquest, it was branded to him even by name, and he was expected to succeed her in every way. The barest notion of any action that steered away from that raison d’etre, to even set down his sword for even a moment, was treason of the highest order, to his Shrike, to his Empire, and to his family. The days after his knighting are clouded and lost to him. For the most extent, he can hardly recall much of his military service. Hundreds of campaigns and skirmishes, thousands of comrades lost and revived as wights to serve as arrow fodder on the front line. One memory from his service brought him a great degree of guilt that involved an Amalgamation Inquisitor by the name of Ferdinand Cynweard. A botched incursion into Amalgamation territory found a bloodied Sixth Division ambushed by the Inquisitor's strike team, and Salo was captured as the sole survivor. He begged the Inquisitor to execute him, in fear of returning to Castle Angistine to be shamed for allowing himself to be taken prisoner. The Inquisitor chose a fate much crueler than any Nadine legionnaire had faced before, he showed the knight mercy, and let him walk free. The incident was not spoken of or reported to either of their superiors, but to Salo, this injustice remained in his mind, haunting him even in death. As far as he remembers, his last moments alive was as Tribune of his family’s legion, in the Sixth Division, and it had happened prior to the Nadine invasion of Port Frey. Someone shot him in the back of the head with the crossbow bolt. If it was the enemy or an incident of friendly fire, he never got the chance to find out. Post-Return (February, 11r - Present) Feburary, 11r Gathering Salo's Return was a messy and confusing affair, where he found himself awaking on a beach outside of Port Frey drenched in salt water. He comes to the defense of a Decimal named Flint and an Effendal named Arandir (no relation), against some shades before wandering into Port Frey. There in town center he comes across a Colish scoundrel named Dante and a Celestial-blooded warrior named Kiren who catch him up on the affairs of town. They share a drink at the Golden Kilt where Salo offers Dante a drink, thus obligating him via an old Angistine tradition to give him a bunk for the evening. Salo then met Roberts, who he finds is also a fellow Nadine countrymen. They briefly waxed poetic about their distaste for the ruling family. Salo then finds himself on the frontlines when the Theddaspari launch their counterattack on Port Frey. Despite his best efforts, Salo's ability to fight was still clouded in his lost memories from Returning, and he fell and misted at the hands of a Theddaspari mage. After meeting with the Ferryman known as Orphan and winning his first bout of the Death Game, Salo Returns a second time in the Tavern, screaming his lungs out in an agony that he had never felt before in all of his years of squiredom and knighthood. It was in this state of death, Salo discovers there might be greater things to fear than the Shrike. There he becomes acquainted with the larger contingent of his countrymen consisting of Diplomat Domni Atius, Artifex Rem Pandrego, and Sir Leofric Umbrosus, after they hear him cursing the Shrike's name in the process of his second Return. The Artifex gives Salo a very dense rundown of the current geopolitical situation between their new home and the Empire. Salo, having had enough activity for the evening, retires to his new living situation, a sentient mushroom by the docks shared by Dante, Kiren, Flint, and Arandir. The next morning, Salo visits the Nadine campground to see about the activities of his countrymen, and to evaluate where his current relationship to the Shrike stands after his Return. He meets Kaede Drakontos, a woman he had only heard about in records of the Sixth Legion's activities, and they both discuss his mother Margaret in detail. He vents to her about his feelings at this point being both a servant of the Shrike and the son of Margaret to which she reveals a different side to his mother that he had little idea of. This conversation is overheard by Phi, who commiserates and empathizes with Salo's situation. They both share their standings about being a resident of Port Frey and their feelings of fear (or lack thereof) of the Shrike. Salo then attends the Port Frey Knight's Round Table with Sir Leofric. The other knights of the town don't recognize Salo as a knight at first, as he did not attend in his plate armor nor did he wear his chain. Salo takes the meeting to largely listen to what affairs the other knights were attending to at the time, and opts to largely remain silent until he has more skills and expertise to contribute. That same afternoon, Salo comes across Candle and Oleksander Nikolai milling about the Nadine camp. He exchanges a few introductions with them. To Salo's surprise, Oleksander does not give him any judgment when he tells the Trahazi Effendal of his heritage and profession, and as a result, when Oleksander tells Salo about the research he is conducting in regards to Ayan's journal and the Thedasspari, Salo offhandedly swears an oath to the boy, something along the lines of beckoning the Effendal to call him if he ever needs something killed for the sake of his research, all because he was impressed with Oleksander's good-natured and non-judgmental character. Throughout the day he exchanges a few suspicious and accusing glances with a familiar looking stranger, a man that seems to jog a loose memory. That man, was Ferdinand Cynweard, and after shoulder checking him in the street, Salo and Ferdinand have their first exchange in decades, where Salo is hostile to Ferdinand, confused and angry as to why the Inquisitor let him live that day, and feeling a sense of condemnation now that he has Returned only to share a town with his old enemy. After taking a few laps around town to make sense of his feelings towards the Inquisitor, he storms into the Golden Kilt and tosses his gauntlet at Ferdinand's feet, challenging the man to a duel, to which Ferdinand refuses haven taken a vow of pacifism. This only leaves Salo even more confused, as to why this Inquisitor won't finish the job he started all those years ago. In the evening, after a scuffle involving a demon-spawning rift, Salo seeks out the services of an armorsmith. He befriends Silverclaw, a dragon-blooded armorsmith and tea shop owner. Silverclaw repairs Salo's armor while they discuss the happenings of Port Frey and upon discovering Silverclaw also serves tea in his place of business, Salo promises the dragon he would repay him in kind by frequenting the shop more in the future, both as a patron and as a protector of some sort. Later that evening, Salo reconnects with Kiren and Dante when a demon egg appears in Port Frey. He fights alongside them and alongside Kaede, and despite being overwhelmed with numerous bouts of Berserked status, Salo barely survives into the battle's victory. But the biggest wound inflicted that night was not caused by a blade or a spell, it was by the fact that the man who bandaged his wounds was none other than Ferdinand. The two have another less-than-pleasant, passive-aggressive exchange, to which Salo swears "he'll punch those damn flowers off Ferdinand's pretty head". When the knight returned to his now permanent-lodging in Dante and Kiren's Mushroom, he has more questions than answers about his fate, his loyalty, and his role in his new home. Status As a Crown Knight of the Nadine Empire, and a Tribune of the Sixth Legion, Salo holds four pins of status. However, because of his tenuous relationship with his title and his military service, Salo seldom wears his knight's chain nor does he often mention his rank unless pressed or in times of absolute necessity. Allies (Add yourself!) * Kiren and Dante * Flint * Kaede Drakontos * Phi * Sir Leofric Umbrosus * Dirk Ironheart * Silverclaw * Ruslan * Rem Pandrego * Jericho Winter Tyrell * Roberts * Oleksander Nikolai Enemies * Ferdinand Cynweard - It's complicated. Obituaries * February 11r - Killed by a Theddaspari mage in the tavern Rumors (Go Nuts) * I heard that this guy dreams of killing the Shrike! Quotes * "Oh for Shrike's sake!" * "By the fucking Cauldron!" * "I spent my entire life fearing the Shrike, and now that I'm here, the thing I fear more is the fact that I might not fear her anymore." * "I've fought in a thousand campaigns and nothing could prepare me for what just transpired." * "Get me THE FUCK off this battlefield." * "Which way to the war?" * "I serve a big bird lady." * (When pressed about something specific related to his background) "Something like that." Inspirations * FN 2187 * Arthur Morgan * A lot of Toshiro Mifune characters in a lot of Akira Kurosawa films * Macbeth * Che Guevara